Jonathan Swift Quotes - Page 3

Quotes about:

• A tavern is a place where madness is sold by the bottle.

  Jonathan Swift

  Drinking, Bottles, Literature

  20 Copy quote

• And surely one of the best rules in conversation is, never to say a thing which any of the company can reasonably wish had been left unsaid.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wish, Conversation, Unsaid

  Jonathan Swift (1843). “Works: Containing Interesting and Valuable Papers Not Hitherto Published”, p.294

  12 Copy quote

• When I am reading a book, whether wise or silly, it seems to me to be alive and talking to me.

  Jonathan Swift

  Wise, Silly, Book

  Jonathan Swift, David Laing Purves (1871). “The Works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: Carefully Selected; with a Biography of the Author”, p.520

  35 Copy quote

• For in reason, all government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slavery.

  Jonathan Swift

  Government, Slavery, Definitions

  The Drapier's Letters no. 4 (1724)

  106 Copy quote

• Satire is a sort of glass wherein beholders do generally discover everybody’s face but their own; which is the chief reason for that kind reception it meets with in the world, and that so very few are offended with it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Sarcasm, Glasses, Faces

  Jonathan Swift (2013). “The Very Best of Jonathan Swift In Plain and Simple English (Translated)”, p.534, BookCaps Study Guides

  16 Copy quote

• Censure is the tax a man pays to the public for being eminent.

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Pay, Literature

  Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.896, Delphi Classics

  15 Copy quote

• A nice man is a man of nasty ideas.

  Jonathan Swift

  Nice, Men, Ideas

  'Thoughts on Various Subjects' (1706)

  15 Copy quote

• We of this age have discovered a shorter, and more prudent method to become scholars and wits, without the fatigue of reading or of thinking.

  Jonathan Swift

  Reading, Thinking, Criticism

  Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.72, Delphi Classics

  27 Copy quote

• The best Maxim I know in this life is, to drink your Coffee when you can, and when you cannot, to be easy without it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Coffee, Life Is, Drink

  Jonathan Swift, John Hawkesworth, Deane Swift (1766). “Letters Written By The Late Jonathan Swift, D. D. Dean of St. Patrick's, Dublin; And Several Of His Friends: From The Year 1703 To 1740”, p.297

  14 Copy quote

• May you live all the days of your life.

  Jonathan Swift

  Inspirational, Life, Birthday

  Jonathan Swift (1768). “The works of Dr. Jonathan Swift ...: With the author's life and character; notes, historical, critical, and explanatory; tables of contents, and indexes. More complete than any preceding edition ... Accurately corrected by the best editions”, p.153

  43 Copy quote

• He was a bold man that first ate an oyster.

  Jonathan Swift

  Food, Men, Oysters

  1738 Polite Conversation, dialogue 2.

  69 Copy quote

• Cruel people are ever cowards in emergency.

  Jonathan Swift

  People, Coward, Emergencies

  23 Copy quote

• I never knew a man come to greatness or eminence who lay abed late in the morning.

  Jonathan Swift

  Good Morning, Good Day, Greatness

  22 Copy quote

• Reasoning will never make a man correct an ill opinion, which by reasoning he never acquired

  Jonathan Swift

  Men, Opinion, Ill

  Jonathan Swift (2013). “Delphi Complete Works of Jonathan Swift (Illustrated)”, p.1227, Delphi Classics

  6 Copy quote

• It is a maxim among these lawyers, that whatever hath been done before, may legally be done again: and therefore they take special care to record all the decisions formerly made against common justice and the general reason of mankind.

  Jonathan Swift

  Justice, Decision, Special

  Jonathan Swift, Dutton Kearney, Joseph Pearce (2010). “Gulliver's Travels”, p.279, Ignatius Press

  16 Copy quote

• It often happens that, if a lie be believed only for an hour, it has done its work, and there is no further occasion for it.

  Jonathan Swift

  Work, Lying, Done

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Roscoe (1859). “The works of Jonathan Swift, D.D.: with copious notes and additions and a memoir of the author”, p.458

  8 Copy quote

• Although the devil be the father of lies, he seems, like other great inventors, to have lost much of his reputation by the continual improvements that have been made upon him.

  Jonathan Swift

  Father, Lying, Devil

  Jonathan Swift (2011). “Gulliver's Travels and Other Writings”, p.558, Bantam Classics

  8 Copy quote

• Vanity is a mark of humility rather than of pride.

  Jonathan Swift

  Humility, Pride, Vanity

  Jonathan Swift, Thomas Sheridan, John Nichols (1808). “Works”, p.443

  12 Copy quote

• I love good creditable acquaintance; I love to be the worst of the company.

  Jonathan Swift

  Worst, Acquaintance, Company

  'Journal to Stella' (published in 'Works', 1768) 17 May 1711

  4 Copy quote

• Men are happy to be laughed at for their humor, but not for their folly.

  Jonathan Swift

  Humor, Men, Laughing

  9 Copy quote

• It is as hard to satirize well a man of distinguished vices, as to praise well a man of distinguished virtues.

  Jonathan Swift

  Sarcasm, Men, Vices

  Jonathan Swift (1861). “The Works of Jonathan Swift ...: With Cop'ous Notes and Additions”, p.612

  7 Copy quote

• Party is the madness of many for the gain of a few.

  Jonathan Swift

  Party, Political, Politics

  Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1814). “The Works of Jonathan Swift: Miscellanies, by Mr. Pope, Dr. Arbuthnot, Mr. Gay, &c. Prose miscellanies by Swift and Sheridan”, p.255

  9 Copy quote

• It is impossible that anything so natural, so necessary, and so universal as death, should ever have been designed by providence as an evil to mankind.

  Jonathan Swift

  Death, Evil, Dying

  Jonathan Swift, Sir Walter Scott (1824). “Sermons (cont.) Tracts in defence of Christianity. Tracts in support of the Church establishment. Tracts on the test act. Essays, periodical and miscellaneous”, p.56

  22 Copy quote

• No man was ever so completely skilled in the conduct of life, as not to receive new information from age and experience.

  Jonathan Swift

  Funny, Life, Time

  18 Copy quote

• Blot out, correct, insert, refine, enlarge, diminish, interline. Be mindful, when invention fails. To scratch your head and bite your nails.

  Jonathan Swift

  Nails, Mindfulness, Scratches

  Jonathan Swift (2011). “Gulliver's Travels and Other Writings”, p.625, Bantam Classics

  6 Copy quote

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